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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

I love being a grandmother of 3 children and 1 on the way. I keep my grandchildren during the week while my daughter works. I don't want to confuse being a grandmother with being a babysitter, so I try to make good use of the time I have with them. I have tried to teach them things this summer that you cannot get in school. I am not a shopper, so we don't go out a lot. Most of the time we do things at home to make memories. Today, though we decided to go on an adventure! They had no idea where we were going, and neither did I! I knew we needed to do things that didn't cost a lot of money, so here we went on our way. They were so excited! You just will not believe where we ended up. The first place we went was a pet store. Boy did they enjoy that! It was better than a Zoo! Then, we met my "Sweet Honey" and ate lunch at Applebee's. Then we left there and went to another pet store here in town. This pet store let them pet and hold the animals. My grandchildren were in heaven. We left there and went to a very unique place in our little town. It is called Peacock Alley. In this little place, we saw a very special children's clothes store. They had a place inside that had a little cubby hole that had toys inside it. While the little ones mostly played, my 13 year old granddaughter was dreaming about picking out things for her new niece or nephew that is due in December. Inside this place they had beautiful chenille bedspreads hanging with peacocks on them. They are gorgeous! Our town is the "Carpet Capitol of The World." These bedspreads are the beginning of the carpet industry. This is our heritage here. I talked to the children about this and explained the history of our little city. They were amazed. We also found a very old dentist chair on display there and a couple of old coke machines. They could not believe a coke was 5 cents at one time. Boy, that was a long time ago! We left there and went to a little place called Krazy Knitz to look around and ask about knitting lessons. All of them were intrigued with what you can make from yarn. It was a beautiful little shop. We left there and were riding down the road and saw a Confederate Cemetery so therefore we talked a lot about that. I found out that I need to read up on my history because of all the questions. This cemetery was in the midst of a big cemetery in our town. My middle granddaughter asked me if everyone was dead out there and I said yes. I took this opportunity to take them to my grandmothers grave and tell them lots of stories about their great, great Grandma, Ophie Elizabeth Cochran. ("My Mom's Mother") She was born Feb. 14, 1896 and went home to be with her Lord on Dec. 18, 1993. My Grandmother was so special to me when she is alive, and still is. She taught me so many things. I loved sharing these stories with my grandchildren.While we are there we saw a grave stone for my uncle and aunt with no dates on it. I realized then, that I had answered the question about everyone being dead, wrong because I knew they were still alive. So I took this opportunity to tell them how some people plan for their deaths so that their children will not have to have those worries. They were so interested. I also took them to see "My Sweet Honey's" grandparents graves, which is also their great great grandparents. Then we saw a precious little grave with stuffed animals on it. They asked me why they were there. I told them this was someones baby. On the grave stone it said "Playing in Gods Garden". I shared with them how special they were and how blessed they were to have each other and their family. Then we stopped at Sonic and we all got a slushy and headed home. They talked about this special day all the way home. We had a very full day as you can tell by the pictures below and spent very little money. I explained to them how you can have a good time without buying "stuff". I told them that "stuff" does not make happiness. On the way home, I asked each of them, what was their favorite part of the day. My oldest, & youngest, said the animals. My middle granddaughter said the cemetery. My favorite part was sharing my TIME with my grandchildren on this special adventure.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

We are home and trying to catch up on everything. This is the first trip that I have ever been on that I could not wait to come home. We have not stopped working since we have been here, but there is nothing like HOME though. I missed my garden, my pond, my sewing machine, my plants, my gator, my bed, but, most of all I missed my "Sweet Mother"! We don't get to see each other often, but we talk every night! My "Sweet Honey" could not believe that I was glad to come home. I must be getting older because this is a new experience for me. There is something at home that you cannot get anywhere else. There is peace and a sense of security. We had a wonderful time at the beach, but I sure am glad to be home.Stay, stay at home, my heart, and rest;

Friday, July 25, 2008

This is our last night here at Myrtle Beach, so there is a lot of packing going on. We always take a lot of family pictures when we are at the beach. I wanted to share these pictures with you before we head out in the morning. We have had a wonderful blessed time! Please pray for road mercy as we travel home tomorrow. Thank you all for your prayers while we have been away.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

We are still at the beach and now we have a birthday to celebrate. We are very happy you are on this vacation with all of us. It makes our family complete. I hope you are having a good time. May God Bless you.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

We are still at the beach and we have a special anniversary to celebrate! Mandy (our "sweet daughter") & Dusty (our "sweet Son in law") have been married 7 years as of today! They are also expecting their first baby in December. Mandy could not lay on her little stomach, so she made a hole in the sand so she could lay on her stomach. Isn't she cute?

Monday, July 21, 2008

This trip to the beach is our Christmas gift to our children. We are having a wonderful time. The weather is great. This is the first time my son has came with us on a family vacation in years. He is not well, so he is not enjoying this trip as much as I hoped he would. He can't go and do the things that the other kids are doing. Right now, we are in the condo, relaxing after an evening stroll on the beach and the all the kids and grandkids except my son are off riding go carts and all that stuff they love to do. I rather be here relaxing. I am actually going to do a little embroidery tonight thanks to my Mom. I am excited about doing this. The first night we were here, we went and ate seafood. Last night my oldest daughter, Shannon made lasagna and spaghetti, garlic toast and salad for all of us. She made banana splits for dessert. It was yummy. Tonight my other daughter, Maranda made Chicken enchiladas served with chips & salsa and refried beans for us. She is fixing chocolate chip cookies for dessert. I am sorry to say that I forgot to make pictures of this. It was great too. Here are a few more pictures. Please keep us in your prayers as we have our Christmas in July!

Sunday, July 20, 2008

Well, we are here! As we were driving in, we heard the weather was going to be rainy but we have saw nothing but sunshine. The beach is beautiful, but crowded. You would never know there is trouble in the economy by looking around here. The real estate company that we rented our condo through said this has been the busiest they have ever been. They have everything they have listed, rented this week. There are 12 of us here. All of my 4 children and their spouses and my 3 grandchildren and us! We have a beautiful 4 bedroom, 4 bath condo rented this week. I am very picky where I stay because I love clean and nice. This place is great. We have stayed here several times and we all love it. Here are a few of the pictures I have took of our trip.

Friday, July 18, 2008

We are leaving early in the morning heading for Myrtle Beach! My "Sweet Mom" called me and told me she had some things for me to take on vacation with me just in case it rains. I wanted to go and see her anyway and tell her I would miss her. I went to where she works and sure enough, she had me a special bag packed with goodies. Here are the things she packed for me. (Click on pictures to enlarge). I could not even begin to tell you what all my "Sweet Mom" does for me. But if she never did a thing for me, her love and support would be more than I could ever ask for. Can you tell I love my Mom. She is my best friend. She always thinks of others before herself. She is the best Mom ever! I am so excited to start this embroidering. All of my children and son in laws and grandchildren are going with us. So the next blog will be coming from Myrtle Beach! I will miss you Mom!

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

My Grandchildren & I went to visit my "Sweet Granny" today. She is 94 years old and still quilting. Of course we found her doing a quilt. The purple and white one laying on a bed is the one she is working on. She lays it on the bed to see if it is large enough. She was adding a border to make it larger. She asked my oldest grandaughter to help her. She had been chain piecing the blocks and asked her to cut the thread in between them. Triston loved doing it. Alyssa, my middle grandaughter really wanted to help. I could just tell by the look on her face! Now Brother, as we call him, my baby grandson was all over the place. He didn't care. He was wild today! Triston had picked out some fabric and a pattern today for me to make for her. You can see her bringing the fabric in to show granny. My dad was there. We were hoping that he would still be there. He planted 2 gardens at Grannys house and he goes everyday to work in it and help his Mom. You can tell that he had been working hard because he was sweating so. He has always been a very hard worker as long as I remember. He gave us a lot of vegetables to bring home and of course that is what we had for supper. It was so yummy! If you have ever saw a post about my granny, you will notice that I always take pictures of her little house and things in it. It is so simple and neat as a pin. It intrigues me. I am amazed how much I am like her. It was a great visit and I love making memories. I hope my grandchildren will always remember their great, great, grandmother forever. Enjoy the pictures below of our visit.

Sunday, July 13, 2008

Have I told you that my "Sweet Honey" has a "mistress"? Well he does. For 30 years now, I have called the newspaper his "Mistress"! It seems like every time he starts to read the newspaper is when I have something very important to tell him. He says it never fails that I talk while he is reading. Do you think he is trying to tell me something??? Anyway, after lunch when I saw him with his "mistress" I decided that I would go finish quilt block #10 of Amanda Jean's Quilt Along! I bet that I had more fun than he did! Then I came upstairs and made my "sweet honey" a peach cobbler! All is well in our home even with a "mistress"!

Saturday, July 12, 2008

We have a separate garage that has everything in it! It has our Corvette in it all covered up with a car cover. It has an extra refrigerator in it. I have 3, do you think that is enough? It has my freezer out there. It has a little bit of everything. We remodel houses, so everything we need when we do that, is in there. I can't begin to name it all. Anyway, we reorganized it today. I was hoping that we would get rid of some of it, but my "sweet honey" has turned into the way I used to be. Here is an example of our conversation:

Me: Hey honey, have you used this in a while?

Hubby: No, but I have been looking for that!

Me: Honey, this looks tore up.

Hubby: I know. I have been meaning to fix it.

Me: Can we throw it away?

Hubby: No, one day I will get to it.

Me: What is this?

Hubby: I don't know, but put it over here. It probably goes with something.

Me: Is there anything in here that we can do away with?

Hubby: No way, we might need it someday!

And on and on and on.

We did get rid of 5 things, but they were mine! I wouldn't want to show you the before pictures, but I will show you the after pictures. It doesn't look too neat, but it is a lot better than it was. I would hate for my "Sweet Honey" to come in to my sewing room and try to make me get rid of stuff, so I understand completely. I just love this man! He makes my life complete!

Tuesday, July 8, 2008

I recently told you about my bad leg. Well, it is better, unless I stay on it too much. Today, I hit my toe on a door (clumsy Me!) and I think I have broke it! Yes, it is on the same leg that is bad. Can you believe it?? Do you think I am being told to slow down?? My 3 grandchildren keep me hopping all the time. Now with this broke toe, I am really hopping! (ha!) I think I need to go back to the lake!

Sunday, July 6, 2008

We spent this past weekend at the Lake. My "Sweet daughter", Maranda, and her "Sweet honey" went with us. We fished our hearts out, but didn't get the results that we got last time with the big ones. Now we got into some bluegill and had a ball catching them. I caught the big one of the trip. We got to see the best fireworks shows I have ever saw right from our boat. They had them Friday and Saturday night. We sat in the middle of a cove and watched them. We took pictures but they didn't turn out. Honestly, it was beautiful! One night we had supper with my "Sweet honey's" brother & his wife at their lake house. We cooked out and had a great time. My "Sweet SIL" surprised us with the best dessert...Paula Deen's Banana Split Ice cream cake! YUM! It was a great weekend. Happy Fourth to you all!

Granny's PERFECT Quilt

It is PERFECT. Perfectly PERFECT. Oh I don't mean perfect stitches, or perfect seams, or perfectly square. It is PERFECT for snuggling under on a rainy, dreary day. It is PERFECT for wrapping up a grandchild who is spending the night. It is PERFECT for making a house when draped over a chair & an end table. It is PERFECT for winding around and around a doll. It is PERFECT for covering up in the car when the air conditioning is on full blast. It is PERFECT for laying on the carpet and putting a baby down for his nap. God has touched Granny's heart and her hands, and her life. He has made her an artist. He has given her the gift of PERFECT quilts.

Written by Marlene B. about the quilt she bought from Granny. (Excerpt from Oct. 7, 2009 post on her blog)

Our Forever Farm

Our Little PEACE of Heaven

"Oh that God would give every mother a vision of the glory and splendor of the work that is given to her when a babe is place in her bosom to be nursed and trained! Could she have but one glimpse in to the future of that life as it reaches on into eternity; could she look into it's soul to see its possibilities; could she be made to understand her own personal responsibility for the training of this child, for the development of its life, and for its destiny,--she would see that in all God's world there is no other work so noble and so worthy of her best powers, and she would commit to no others hands the sacred and holy trust given to her." -JR Miller

Our Prayer

Lord, help us to PLAN, PREPARE, & PLANT what you would have us to. Help us to WEED out of our lives what should not be there. Lord, help us to GROW through you in our relationships, our attitudes, and our lives, always being in your will. Help us to always walk with you. Let us always be thankful and content. Amen